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Conversations about Creating a Culture of Activity: Profiling the people, places, programs, and policies that help to promote a culture of activity within our communities.
Note: This transcript was exported from the video version of this episode, and it has not been copyedited
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:13
Melissa Bruntlett
The whole premise behind the book, was sort of. Yeah, watching these cities that were transforming during Covid rapidly to respond to the the necessary necessity for physical distancing and, you know, public transportation not being as much of an option or understanding the need for high quality public space so we can all get outside and have that therapeutic moment that we talked about in curbing traffic.
00:00:22:15 - 00:00:42:24
Chris Bruntlett
For us, it was about identifying, of course, not just the usual candidates and Barcelona and Paris, the probably the most obvious examples, but lesser known places outside of Europe where similar inspiring things were happening, happening, where we could also shine a spotlight on them.
00:00:42:27 - 00:01:09:27
John Simmerman
Hey everyone, and welcome to the Active Towns Channel. My name is John Simmerman and that is Chris and Melissa Bruntlett. We are going to be talking about their new book, Women Changing Cities Global Stories of Urban Transformations and getting an update on everything and exciting with them. There in Delft. But before we get started on all that, if you're enjoying this content here on the Active Towns Channel, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador.
00:01:09:29 - 00:01:33:04
John Simmerman
He's super easy to do just click on the join button right here down below in YouTube, or navigate over to Active towns.org. Click on the support tab at the top of the page, and there's several different options, including becoming a Patreon supporter. Okay, without further ado, let's get right to it with Melissa and Chris brother.
00:01:33:07 - 00:01:44:03
John Simmerman
Melissa and Chris, thank you so much for joining me on the Active Towns podcast. I have no idea how many times you all have been on. I've lost count, but welcome, welcome.
00:01:44:05 - 00:01:51:29
Melissa Bruntlett
Thanks, John. It's always a pleasure to just chat with you, whether it's on the podcast or in person or whatever. But yeah.
00:01:52:01 - 00:02:17:06
John Simmerman
Yeah, we, we were talking about just a moment ago before we hit the record button and before my camera blanked out that it was four years ago today that I was in your neighborhood, experiencing, Delft. We're recording this on Halloween. You know, one week in the past and, Yeah, it's it was so much fun to experience Delft.
00:02:17:08 - 00:02:20:07
John Simmerman
On Halloween, there.
00:02:20:10 - 00:02:50:02
Chris Bruntlett
And it's still very much a city that we. Yeah, have a deep affection for, spending precious little time here these days, of course, with us both traveling the world with our day jobs. We find ourselves at our dining room table together for the first time in a while. But, yeah, we we seven years, and now almost, we've called Delft home and still enjoying every moment, every day that we get to spend.
00:02:50:04 - 00:03:20:23
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I absolutely adore Delft and, and it's, it's one of, I think my favorite, favorite cities in the Netherlands to spend time in and, and, you know, my last trip, last year, 2024, I was only able to spend a short period of time there, but, back in 20, 22, four years ago when I was there, it was fantastic to be able to spend like three weeks based out of there.
00:03:20:25 - 00:03:44:17
John Simmerman
And, and, and it was neat just running into you, like on the streets. We were we were, we were, some further down the line on, on this street here. And, was able to run into the two of you. For those who may not know who the heck you are, who are you?
00:03:44:20 - 00:04:13:17
Melissa Bruntlett
Do those people still exist? I'm just kidding. Well, we are Chris and Melissa, front lit. We are Canadians that moved to the Netherlands almost seven years ago and now called Delft home. And, aside from day jobs that we can explain, we are storytellers and authors, who, for some miracle, have been able to write three books together, as husband and wife.
00:04:13:17 - 00:04:19:04
Melissa Bruntlett
So, that's, you know, that's an achievement in and of itself.
00:04:19:06 - 00:04:41:27
John Simmerman
I agree, and since you mentioned the three books, we are going to be talking about your most recent book, Women Changing Cities A Global Stories of Urban Transformation. But we have the other two books as well, the original book, Building the Cycling City and then your your follow up book, Curbing Traffic. Who would like to explain those two books?
00:04:42:00 - 00:05:05:15
Chris Bruntlett
Well, it's obviously, a story that starts with, an introduction, John, that you made to Heather Boyer of Island Press. Way back in 2017. We had just returned from the Netherlands, having written a few blog posts and really been inspired by, the infrastructure here and, and felt like it was a part of a bigger story.
00:05:05:16 - 00:05:35:24
Chris Bruntlett
And luckily Heather agreed. And and that began this kind of life changing adventure, publishing the book, taking speaking tours around the world, getting offered, jobs in the Netherlands, and packing up and moving to Delft. Sight unseen, by the way, as we explained. And in curving traffic. We'd hadn't spent a minute here, and yet decided to live here out of convenience and out of the research we were able to do online.
00:05:35:24 - 00:06:21:02
Chris Bruntlett
And as, one of our Twitter followers put it at the time, we felt like we fell with our nose in the butter is the Dutch expression, we, really hit the jackpot when it comes to quality of life. When it comes to a small city that's connected to a vibrant region. And and 80% of the trips are made by foot, bike or transport and, and, try to capture that experience of, of living in the Netherlands with, a ten year old and a 12 year old in the second book and in curbing traffic in terms of trying to quantify and qualify the quality of life improvements that we experienced, and we
00:06:21:02 - 00:06:45:21
Chris Bruntlett
could see the people around us experiencing. So that was, written during the pandemic and, and we didn't quite have the same, ability to travel the world and promote it. So most of the promotion to that book was done online. And then as, as things go, we've kind of felt we'd said everything we needed to say in terms of writing books.
00:06:45:21 - 00:06:53:06
Chris Bruntlett
But as, you can see on the screen, we we apparently did not.
00:06:53:09 - 00:07:19:21
John Simmerman
So so, Melissa, before we dive into the details of the book, why don't you just give the set up? Because, yeah, a bit after, you know, we talked after curbing traffic. You're like, yep, done and done. We're we're we're kind of done doing this. We've got our full time jobs and and and and we'll we'll also talk a little bit about how that whole landscape, the your, your, your day jobs have shifted around and changed a little bit over time.
00:07:19:26 - 00:07:26:00
John Simmerman
But what did you give the setup to? The reason why there is a third book?
00:07:26:03 - 00:07:46:19
Melissa Bruntlett
Sure. It's, it's I mean, it's a funny story. We look back on it now, but yeah, as as Chris said, as you've said, we were done. We both had ideas of maybe what we would like to write about again, but we couldn't find ourselves meeting in the middle, to the point where, you know, it's no secret.
00:07:46:19 - 00:08:13:20
Melissa Bruntlett
Married couples argue. And we argued and we said, that's it. We're not doing this again. And, then while Chris was traveling, I received an we both, but I'm the one that read it first. Received an email from Reba, the Royal Institute of British Architects, who said if you would ever reconsider and write a third book, we would love to produce one with full color photos to show off all of the amazing photos you share from your travels around the world.
00:08:13:23 - 00:08:28:20
Melissa Bruntlett
Just let us know. And as soon as I read that email, I didn't know what the book would necessarily be about, but I knew it was happening. So, yeah. And I think I even messaged you and said, I guess we're writing another book. Then.
00:08:28:23 - 00:09:00:28
John Simmerman
And I'm. And I actually, solo myself out here just a moment so I can really give the book, some credit and basically say, yes, it happened. And absolutely beautiful. I knew that it had color photos, but until I actually had the book in hand and opened it up and saw that very high quality paper, very, you know, wonderful photography as your books always have.
00:09:01:00 - 00:09:22:05
John Simmerman
But it means so much more when it's in color. And this is one of the big letdowns from, you know, a typical, you know, nonfiction book that's, you know, written in serious topics and everything. And then you look at it and everything's in black and white, and, you know, it's because it's it's very costly to do it like this in high color.
00:09:22:07 - 00:09:43:25
John Simmerman
And so how wonderful. I mean, this is so rich and and beautiful and with an emphasis on, on the beautiful aspect of having it in color, like, this is really, really special. And it's funny that you mention that, Melissa. Is that. Ooh, if it's a color. Yeah. We're doing this. Yeah.
00:09:43:27 - 00:09:44:08
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah.
00:09:44:08 - 00:10:07:03
Chris Bruntlett
I mean, I think for us, because our, our time was so, you know, monopolized by our day job. So we were really hesitant to commit to putting ourselves through the, the blood, sweat and tears of writing a third book. But the sales pitch was very compelling because of course, it's it's half the word count. It's, being able to feature our photos.
00:10:07:03 - 00:10:12:21
Chris Bruntlett
In theory, it's half the work. But I can tell you that wasn't the case.
00:10:12:23 - 00:10:18:04
John Simmerman
No. Or most of the photos. Your photos as well. Or are all all, your photos.
00:10:18:07 - 00:10:43:16
Melissa Bruntlett
All but three of the chapters? So we said when we first decided to write this book, we set out a goal to try to go to all of the cities. But like Chris has said, you know, with the busyness of our our day jobs and the cost, we weren't able to travel to Manila, to Kampala, and in Sydney, we had already been, and we happened to have friends that were traveling there.
00:10:43:16 - 00:10:56:06
Melissa Bruntlett
And so we worked with two amazing photographers, that we hired for Manila and for Kampala. And then worked together with a friend who's also a very talented photographer to help us out with newer photos of Sydney.
00:10:56:08 - 00:11:19:19
John Simmerman
Okay, good. Yeah. Well, and the reason why I asked that specific question is, is Chris, you in particular? And, I don't know, maybe you two more. So I haven't seen you with the camera as much, but he's that guy next to you. He is pretty amazing with the camera. So. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Beautiful work. Yeah. Chris, is that a passion of yours in terms of, you know, doing photography?
00:11:19:19 - 00:11:39:04
John Simmerman
Because, you know, I and you're quite talented at it as well. And, you know, as somebody who's constantly filming video on on bike, I see you with your camera, you know, around your shoulders and round your neck and, and very, very talented at snapping just the right photo at just the right time.
00:11:39:07 - 00:11:43:11
Chris Bruntlett
You're making me really uncomfortable. And.
00:11:43:14 - 00:12:15:24
Chris Bruntlett
But, no, it's I mean, I think and with the full disclosure that I've never taken a photography class or received any time of a formal training, it just, through our work in cycling advocacy and urbanism, we we started taking photos of infrastructure and people and, and then part of the travel, we would do part of processing that city and, analyzing that city became through the lens and, and of course, we didn't have all kinds of expensive equipment, but we had, technology on our side.
00:12:15:24 - 00:12:46:28
Chris Bruntlett
And sometimes it's the best camera you have. Is the phone in your pocket? Have a couple of other, nicer options. And, yeah, it's just been trial and error and years and years and years of practicing and, and I think to the point now where you kind of have an eye for what is interesting visually, what is iconic.
00:12:47:01 - 00:13:23:06
Chris Bruntlett
You know, and of course, it always comes down to how people are using the infrastructure we see in the urbanism world. So many photographs of empty bike lanes, empty plazas, we don't actually show people, the human beings that are impacted by this infrastructure. And so capturing those moments where there's, discretely, of course, people, using the cycling lanes or children playing in playgrounds or, and trying to show how this is, this is, utilized by the people that live in that city.
00:13:23:11 - 00:13:52:05
Chris Bruntlett
And so, yeah, I think if people who follow us on social media know that wherever we happen to be in the world through our day jobs, through traveling with our family, whatever, we're sharing stories, visual stories, not just written stories, at these places and these changes that are taking place and women changing cities just became the perfect place to share 11 of these stories, which, of course, have this underlying thread of they're all happening under female leadership.
00:13:52:05 - 00:14:08:23
Chris Bruntlett
But that is, yeah, it's still a bigger story about urban transformation. And and of course, we can't just write words about it. We have to put the images on the pages so people can see and perhaps say, hey, I, we would like this in our city too.
00:14:08:25 - 00:14:34:00
John Simmerman
Yeah. And I think that goes to the roots of what you all were doing back way back when you were still in Vancouver. Is you were constantly pushing out, on social media, these visual images and text that goes along with it to, you know, tell the story. And, and really, I think it's a big part of what I've been doing, too.
00:14:34:02 - 00:15:03:03
John Simmerman
I was just reflecting on the fact that I launched the Active Towns initiative in 2013 and, and, and originally it was still photography for the first couple of years as I was traveling from town to town to town to try to tell the story. But yeah, you guys are storytellers. That's what the whole point is, is you're pushing out these images, video clips and still photography and trying to, I think give inspiration to other places and other people.
00:15:03:05 - 00:15:40:14
John Simmerman
That, hey, this is possible we can create a more livable environment for all ages and abilities. And speaking of all ages and abilities, in my slide deck for my keynote presentation that I give, I still use, Chris, one of your classic, iconic photos, that, you know, just as wonderful is the that message that this is, you know, for all ages and abilities and, there's a, an older lady on a bike and followed by a couple of kids behind, and it's just, you know, I did clear that with you before.
00:15:40:20 - 00:16:00:13
John Simmerman
I stole it from you. Borrowed it from me, and I. And I do give credit to you, in the in the slide, too. But. Yeah, it's in that's the whole point is we want to be able to capture these images that, you know, the cliche goes, is a photo is like worth a thousand words. It helps tell the story.
00:16:00:18 - 00:16:16:27
John Simmerman
So let's get down to your day jobs. Okay. So, Chris, you are with this fabulous organization that I have had the honor of, of hanging out with and doing stuff with over the years. Why don't you explain what you're doing with the Dutch cycling embassy real quick?
00:16:16:29 - 00:16:42:07
Chris Bruntlett
Of course. Yeah. So I'm, I'm now coming up on my seven year anniversary with the, the DC, which is, of course, yeah, quite special. We're an organization that was founded and continues to be financed by the Netherlands government, by the Ministry of Infrastructure, to share knowledge, to cooperate with cities and countries around the world, to help them learn from 50 years of best practice.
00:16:42:07 - 00:17:11:22
Chris Bruntlett
On the topic of infrastructure, policy, culture. And, so we act as this kind of hub, between all of these organizations in the Netherlands that are working on the topic of cycling and all of the requests we get from cities around the world to facilitate and be inspired and informed by that knowledge and it, obviously takes me to a lot of corners of the globe.
00:17:11:22 - 00:17:36:15
Chris Bruntlett
Our last conversation, John, was about the work that we're doing in China, which continues to accelerate very excitingly. And, yeah, I find myself in this very privileged position to tell this story of the Netherlands as a cycling country each day, but make it feel practical and achievable for cities like Austin, who have also been working with the DCC for for many, many years.
00:17:36:15 - 00:17:40:09
Chris Bruntlett
But people wouldn't necessarily think of as a candidate for a cycling city.
00:17:40:11 - 00:18:06:19
John Simmerman
Yeah. You know, and in fact, if I go back over to your website here, you know, get inspired under this section that looks at all the top showcases that you have, you know, sort of all the showcases, national, you know, global showcases. And, yeah, I mean, it's it's fantastic in terms of, you know, just the examples that are available and are out there.
00:18:06:19 - 00:18:31:09
John Simmerman
And what's really, really neat about seeing this is, I think, part of the spirit of what is a special story about the Dutch and the built environment and the infrastructure and their approach to this is, I like to say that they're never they're never done. They're always tweaking with it. They're all there's a, a spirit of continuous improvement.
00:18:31:12 - 00:19:01:23
John Simmerman
But at the same time, your whole job, you know, Chris is is also helping share that knowledge internationally. So it's not to say that, oh, we've got it all figured out, and we know best it's that, you know, hey, this is what's kind of possible. And that relationship he mentioned, Austin, you know, dates back over a decade to the very first think bike workshop that was here, even prior to Laura and I moving here, to the city of Austin.
00:19:01:25 - 00:19:22:07
John Simmerman
And so there's a long legacy and a long history of that. And I think that's really special about, sharing this knowledge and and doing it in a very humble way, which I think is, is, is really from my perspectives, is just so attractive. I'll let you comment on that. Chris.
00:19:22:09 - 00:20:15:09
Chris Bruntlett
Yeah. I mean, and this is, of course, you know, the to the credit of the Dutch cycling embassy, they saw the value in hiring, somebody, an outsider, a non Dutch person, and somebody with that, that kind of eye for storytelling and celebrating their cycling culture. And I would say it's been a pretty good match. So over the years and, you know, raising the profile of the DC, the quality of the requests we get, the quality of the exchanges that we have, and to point back to now, success stories like Austin, like Miami, like, to run, and and Paris, and say any city can, can learn from the Netherlands
00:20:15:09 - 00:20:42:26
Chris Bruntlett
and apply these principles. They're, they're not, exclusive to this country. We're here to share what we've learned over the years. And, and the point that you've made, I think also, John, is, is critically important that the Netherlands is never done. Melissa and I were just walking through the center of Delft today, and the street that they renovated 2 or 3 years ago is now being rebuilt again because, they messed it up a little bit.
00:20:42:26 - 00:21:03:11
Chris Bruntlett
I think they were unsatisfied with the way that cyclists and pedestrians were using that street, and the discomfort and the lack of safety. So they're going to rebuild it again. Two years after they they did it previously. And everywhere we walk in Delft, you know, we see examples of streets that have been rebuilt two, three, four times.
00:21:03:13 - 00:21:38:21
Chris Bruntlett
Just because the attitude is we need to get it right and we need to know when we've made a mistake. And, the job of a cycling city is never done. The other example we just saw, last night, we came back through Dove Station to pick up Melissa's bicycle. The bike parking there. Ten years after it opened, they've completely rebuilt the bike parking underneath their station and renovated it to improve it from a social safety standpoint, to improve the lighting, to make it brighter, to make the flow more, comfortable and safe after dark in particular.
00:21:38:23 - 00:21:47:13
Chris Bruntlett
So they're they're constantly working on, making things better. And I think, cities and countries around the world can learn a lot from that.
00:21:47:15 - 00:22:09:04
John Simmerman
And, Melissa, this gets to your new initiative. And, you know, Chris just mentioned, you know, more comfortable, more safe, etc. you're really, you know, impassioned and passionate about creating more inclusive mobility. Talk about a little bit about your new venture and how many months in our we know.
00:22:09:07 - 00:22:14:10
Melissa Bruntlett
This would be if I'm doing the math. November is month ten.
00:22:14:12 - 00:22:27:08
John Simmerman
Day coming up on the one year anniversary soon. So talk a little bit about, your new, efforts and, and and really the backstory. What are we trying to do here?
00:22:27:10 - 00:22:57:28
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. So, for those that know me and where I've been, since 2016, I worked for a number of amazing, consultancies, both in Canada and here in the Netherlands, working in communications and also working on the engagement and, advising side or strategic thinking around, cycling and sustainable mobility, and all very rewarding. Absolutely no regrets whatsoever.
00:22:58:00 - 00:23:37:25
Melissa Bruntlett
But I found myself around this time last year sort of thinking about, is this where I want to be? How can I keep growing? And as you said, I've been really in the last five years or so, a lot more focused on the idea of how we can, bring a more inclusive lens to what we're doing for mobility, how we can make sure that regardless of gender, age, ability, socioeconomic status, race, whatever, that we're taking all of these needs into account in terms of how we approach, mobility planning and city building and, I kind of decided, okay, maybe it's time to do this on my own, kind of go back
00:23:37:25 - 00:24:16:25
Melissa Bruntlett
to where Chris and I first started when we started my city, but have it be my own venture, and such became MidCity creative. The name is simply, you know, I didn't want to lose the branding. I mean, we've worked so hard to build veracity. I'm not going to walk away from that, but creative is entirely, my thing to be able to continue that storytelling and work for clients to help them with the stories they want to build, to work with public and private, companies and research agencies to advise on how they can have that more broad thinking in terms of their planning, in terms of the projects they're trying to
00:24:16:25 - 00:24:42:15
Melissa Bruntlett
realize, who do they need to be speaking to when, and how to engage with them better. And then finally, like, taking advantage of those opportunities I have where I've been invited to go and speak places to inspire people and make that part of my job as well. So that's kind of what I'm doing. But the, the core behind it, because I was able to do that with the various companies I've been working for as well, prior to this.
00:24:42:15 - 00:25:05:28
Melissa Bruntlett
But this now gives me the flexibility, to be a little more nimble. I think a lot of us, I think all of us on this call and a lot of people that work on the advocacy or grassroots side know that budgets are always a bit challenging, to try to bring expertise in. And it can be a little bit limiting when you work for a consultancy, of course, they are trying to make sure they still meet their bottom line.
00:25:05:28 - 00:25:34:00
Melissa Bruntlett
There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it does limit where I can have impact. And so Mid-City creative is sort of my opportunity to work for those smaller projects because, you know, I can be a little more flexible. I can work for smaller paid projects that are impactful as much as I can for larger clients. And not feel like I have to unfortunately say no to somebody because they, they can't afford a large scale project.
00:25:34:02 - 00:25:55:25
Melissa Bruntlett
Which has been great. It means that I'm getting to work with a lot of different people. In the ten months that creative has been going, I think I counted him up to that. Well, a couple of, of my own projects, but 32 project folders already. So I feel like that's a big deal. But it means that I'm getting to work with so many different people and and.
00:25:56:02 - 00:26:17:04
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah, meet a whole lot of new people that, I haven't had the opportunity, opportunity to before. So. Yeah. And it's all it's still that storytelling, but it's from this idea of of. Yeah. Trying to have the impact where I can building the advocacy side of where I got started into the advisory or professional side as well.
00:26:17:06 - 00:26:41:06
John Simmerman
And what's really, really fun. And Melissa, you and I had, you know, a, a WhatsApp call not too terribly long ago and not too terribly long after you got started and everything. But you are traveling like you mentioned earlier, Chris, you guys are like, always on the go. And you know, right here is a great example here with the the Delhi deep dive.
00:26:41:08 - 00:27:04:22
John Simmerman
You all are just totally international. You know Chris, you'll be you'll you'll be off in China and Melissa you're off in India or wherever. I mean and that really comes through in the book too. We're going to dive deep into the book right now. But yeah, you guys are. You didn't make it easier on yourself. You didn't say, you know, I want to I want to be here at home close by.
00:27:04:22 - 00:27:09:01
John Simmerman
I'm just I'm going to open a new bake shop or something.
00:27:09:03 - 00:27:16:10
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. I mean, to be fair, we have friends that own, cafes and bakeries in town, and they say it's really hard work. So. Oh, yeah.
00:27:16:17 - 00:27:18:29
John Simmerman
No. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:27:19:01 - 00:27:23:01
Melissa Bruntlett
You get paid to travel is, I guess, not, not the worst job in the world.
00:27:23:03 - 00:27:49:06
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. Well, with that said, let's let's shift gears a little bit. Let's talk a little bit more about the book itself. And and really we set it up. We already talked about how this came about. Why don't you set us up, Melissa, in terms of the structure of the book and, and what people can expect from it, and then we'll we'll dive in.
00:27:49:06 - 00:28:20:28
John Simmerman
We'll take a look at some of the, images from the book and really emphasizing the fact that, folks, please pick this book up. It's absolutely beautiful. Once again, I just I cherish the fact that, you know, it arrived earlier this week and, even though I had advanced, you know, an advance copy and PDF, it made so much more sense once it was in hand, because it was so much easier to read and just really cherish the, the, the, you know, color, full color photography.
00:28:20:28 - 00:28:26:11
John Simmerman
So, again, set us up here, Melissa, in terms of what people can expect when they get the book.
00:28:26:13 - 00:28:51:14
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. Well, I mean, the the whole premise behind the book, was sort of. Yeah, watching these cities that were transforming during Covid rapidly to respond to the, the necessary necessity for physical distancing and, you know, public transportation not being as much of an option or understanding the need for high quality public space so we can all get outside and have that therapeutic moment that we talked about in curbing traffic.
00:28:51:17 - 00:29:16:18
Melissa Bruntlett
And one thing that we started to notice is the common thread seemed to be a lot of women were we're the way we say it in the presentation getting shit done. And so wanting to understand that, and so I know watching all this happen, we selected 11 case studies through various exposure that we had had, in both of our professional our day jobs and highlighted.
00:29:16:25 - 00:29:45:12
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah, what what you can expect in the book is stories about 11 cities or organizations that are led by women, yes, but are really focused on how to have a positive impact, yet on the city itself or on a larger narrative around, physical safety in public space or the need for mentorship and training, for young women to retain them, and an industry that is still predominantly male.
00:29:45:14 - 00:30:14:25
Melissa Bruntlett
But, you know, with the photos alongside it, it's exactly as you said. It's this idea of showing what's happening, sharing visually, to support the story. And I believe, too, that sometimes the photos even tell the story before you even read the read the rest of the chapter. But really making that case that these things have had a really positive impact on so many people, they are replicable and hopefully help inspire people in terms of how they were realized.
00:30:14:28 - 00:30:55:13
John Simmerman
What I love about this, and we're going to start with chapter one here with, with Barcelona. Is is yes. I mean, these are these are stories about the cities, but more importantly, they're there's stories about these, amazing women that or have been are part of this narrative. And, I think it's just it's such a, an inspiring narrative because, you know, we we do see this trend and in real quickly, I want to just give everybody a snapshot, an idea of, of the cities that we're going to be talking about here.
00:30:55:13 - 00:31:19:02
John Simmerman
We've got Barcelona, we've got Bogota, we've got Montreal, we got Manila, Tirana, Paris, and then, Latin America, and there's a several, several different cities that are identified there. How did you come to like that mix? I mean, I'm sure there there are many more that were possibilities.
00:31:19:05 - 00:31:42:21
Chris Bruntlett
Well, it it really began for us, with the understanding that this was this whole process would be an investigation. We were going to start with an exploration with a question, which, of course is, what is it about female leadership that is breaking through the status quo? We cities know where they need to go, but a lot of them seem stuck.
00:31:42:23 - 00:32:15:23
Chris Bruntlett
And why is it in these handful of cities, things are actually happening. Whereas, in a lot of places, are really treading water. And so for us, it was about identifying, of course not just the usual candidates. And Barcelona and Paris are probably the most obvious examples, but lesser known places outside of Europe where similar inspiring things were happening, happening, where we could also shine a spotlight on that.
00:32:15:26 - 00:33:03:25
Chris Bruntlett
But I think also part of what we understood once we we started looking for those stories is they were perhaps harder to find in Asia, in Africa, in other parts of the world where, females in positions of political leadership are still quite rare. And so in those contexts, we began searching for bottom up success stories for, yeah, women working in advocacy, working for grassroots organizations that were stimulating change at the street level rather than this top down approach, which may be, I think, seven out of the 11 cities or more top down urban leadership, and then the remaining four are bottom up, grassroots level.
00:33:03:25 - 00:33:30:21
Chris Bruntlett
And so finding that sweet spot of different types of interventions, different contexts, women in different positions, from mayors to ministers to heads of departments of transport and and all with the common thread of, yeah, these are the cities where, where change is happening. What is it about, the female experience that is leading to that change happening so quickly?
00:33:30:24 - 00:33:58:08
Chris Bruntlett
And I think, of course, by the end where we were able to draw some conclusions and some common threads, having asked 19 of these women basically the exact same set of questions throughout the interview process to try and identify, where's the commonality here, where their lived experiences, their approaches, finding some commonality and and what can we as changemakers learn from that process?
00:33:58:08 - 00:34:10:05
Chris Bruntlett
Because the answer is not just elect women everywhere, but also for all elected officials to, adapt and learn these leadership qualities as well.
00:34:10:07 - 00:34:18:24
John Simmerman
And to be clear, not all of the individuals who are profiled in this are elected officials, but some of them are, Melissa, who are we looking at here?
00:34:18:27 - 00:34:23:27
Melissa Bruntlett
This is Janet sounds and she is the deputy is still or.
00:34:24:00 - 00:34:25:17
Chris Bruntlett
She's on the council, but no longer deputy.
00:34:25:17 - 00:34:45:21
Melissa Bruntlett
Mayor. She was the deputy mayor from ability. But, when the council changed, when out of clout, unfortunately did not win, her seat in the follow up election. She's now so on city council. And but she's been quite pivotal in terms of a lot of that, change from the city, the council level and championing it.
00:34:45:23 - 00:35:12:24
Melissa Bruntlett
And here is Sylvia Catron, and she is, she's much like us. She's an advocate that that found herself also working, for the city as a designer and as a planner. She now works for the region in Barcelona, the Metropole. But she was also one of the first people or one of the people first on the ground in terms of realizing super blocks in Barcelona.
00:35:12:27 - 00:35:29:18
John Simmerman
Yeah. And and I've, I've met Sylvia before. She is a force of nature. And, when we talk about Barcelona. Yeah. One of the things that comes up right away is the is just that the super blocks. Why don't you explain what this is?
00:35:29:21 - 00:36:02:01
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah, sure. So the super blocks were sort of this, reallocation of, public space. Streets are public space and a reallocation of that in a city that didn't have enough, there when you when you're there and you're speaking to people, you learn about how so much, and remember, the number is better than me. So much of the street space is dedicated to the movement of storage and storage of vehicles, but most Barcelona ians walk or cycle or spend time in public space.
00:36:02:01 - 00:36:24:24
Melissa Bruntlett
And there was this huge lack. And so the super blocks was a way to take these neighborhood streets with their chamfered corners as a part of the planning from the turn of the century, and reimagine them as central squares where traffic can be slowed, not removed completely. But then you can have this addition of seating of playgrounds like you see here on the screen.
00:36:24:27 - 00:36:42:21
Melissa Bruntlett
Of cafes nearby where people can socialize, and just reimagining that space either through tactical urbanism, like here in the poblano, or a more permanent, like in, southwest some and say, sorry, my Spanish is not up to par.
00:36:42:23 - 00:36:45:22
John Simmerman
My need or.
00:36:45:25 - 00:36:58:13
Melissa Bruntlett
But there's this like, you can see all these different iterations of it, but it's really all about that reallocation of space and giving it back to a mediterranean city where they live outdoors. The outdoors is their living room.
00:36:58:15 - 00:37:09:21
John Simmerman
Yeah. Now, Chris, the other theme that you guys cover in the book is the other thing that Barcelona is well known for, which is the bike bus. Won't you talk a little bit about this?
00:37:09:24 - 00:37:31:27
Chris Bruntlett
Yeah. And we because Barcelona was the first city that we visited in writing this, this book and beginning this process is we, through Sylvia, we were introduced to the, the bus organizers. They gave us the invitation to ride along on a Friday morning, and join what was nearly 100 children on their way to school.
00:37:31:29 - 00:37:59:08
Chris Bruntlett
But this is, you know, is is, a lot of your, viewers and listeners may be aware, a growing movement, a soft form of protest, to kind of put faces and, and, a visibility and a voice to, children who want to be able to walk and cycle to school safely, but currently don't have safe enough streets or infrastructure to do so.
00:37:59:08 - 00:38:21:24
Chris Bruntlett
And so to give them that safety in numbers. Right, as a group, in a kind of celebratory manner with music and with, joyful smiles and waves and and often with the police escort in the case of Barcelona. But this is become a movement that is spread from Europe to, of course, North America and Latin America.
00:38:21:24 - 00:38:55:24
Chris Bruntlett
And we've seen now bike busses in Australia. But, yeah, really kind of unfortunately dependent on parent, volunteers and time and, and and of course, in the context of care work that often falls on the mom of family. But, an attempt to. Yeah, tried to change streets and change hearts and minds through, this organization, that is getting kids to school safely, but hopefully leading to structural change within the city.
00:38:55:26 - 00:39:19:17
John Simmerman
Yeah. And, we won't have time to actually go through each of the different chapters in each of the different cities. But I did want to pop over to our North American example of, of Montreal, not so much to introduce the Montreal chapter and why you were so passionate and wanting to share this North American experience.
00:39:19:19 - 00:39:41:23
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. Well, in all honesty, Montreal is a city that's near and dear to me, but also to Chris. Through meeting me. My family's originally from Montreal. I didn't I never got to live there myself. But I spent my childhood growing up there and visiting very, very often. And every time we go back to Canada, my parents have a cottage nearby.
00:39:41:23 - 00:40:05:15
Melissa Bruntlett
So we find ourselves back in Montreal, and it's a city that continues to change, and in ways that kind of fly under the radar. We kind of feel like people know Vancouver as this beautiful coastal city that's been building out bike lanes or, Portland obviously has a huge reputation in terms of this idea of of places for people to move at a more human scale.
00:40:05:18 - 00:40:40:09
Melissa Bruntlett
But Montreal has been doing this since the 80s, and we kind of felt like, you know, it was an important story to tell, especially because and for eight years, Mayor Valerie Plant, who you see on the screen here has been pushing to not just build out cycling, build out more of that separated network, but also how to build resiliency and climate adaptation to the city with sponge gardens and re greening, adding public spaces and also championing the Open Streets program that they've been having in the summer now, or how many years this happened.
00:40:40:11 - 00:40:41:02
Chris Bruntlett
4 or 5.
00:40:41:02 - 00:41:19:26
Melissa Bruntlett
Years, 4 or 5 years that has gone from one street, that is open to people close to cars from now, from around May, June till September, from one street to 11 streets throughout the city. And it's just this wonderful. Yeah. Complex, a little bit rough city. That is just moving ahead and a lot of really beautiful ways that we wanted to be able to showcase, you know, not just because of that personal connection, but also because of the fact that, you know, outside of maybe our small urban bubble or advocacy bubble, people don't know what's happening there.
00:41:19:26 - 00:42:04:15
Melissa Bruntlett
And it's a great example for North American cities that I'll say, well, that's all well and good in Europe, but it doesn't work on North American streets. Well, Montreal is an excellent example of how a lot of this stuff can work in Toronto, in Boston, in, Houston, even, you know, bringing these ideas elsewhere, through alliances between businesses and civic leadership, through amazing teams working at the city level to design a complete, cycling network, to those that are working on building out that that climate adaptation for a city that, yes, has really extreme winters, but also is now increasingly having very, very warm summers, you know, how do we make sure that we're
00:42:04:15 - 00:42:08:04
Melissa Bruntlett
adapting for that, for the future of what the city will experience?
00:42:08:06 - 00:42:32:10
Chris Bruntlett
But if I can emphasize, to, everybody's looking, if you haven't been to Montreal, this is one of 11 commercial arterial shopping streets that are fully pedestrianized. That's 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 5 to 6 months of the year. I mean, this isn't just a one off for a couple of hours on a Sunday morning.
00:42:32:12 - 00:42:55:07
Chris Bruntlett
This is the full, permanent pedestrianization where they've engaged with the business community, the local artists, to create street furniture and interactive exhibits. This is a vibrant public space that used to be four lanes of motor traffic. And when you're walking through there. Really, Melissa and I, we're looking at each other like we're in a city in North America right now.
00:42:55:07 - 00:43:19:19
Chris Bruntlett
How did this happen? And, it's really incredible. And now, you know, I think, of course it was. It was in part, Valerie Plant and other women that, led the, in leaned into the controversy on this because, as you can imagine, it wasn't easy. But after the first couple, the business community have embraced it. Of course, the people living in these, in these neighborhoods have embraced it.
00:43:19:19 - 00:43:47:08
Chris Bruntlett
And now it's become almost a permanent fixture. In the, in the calendar and part of the city. And we're excited. Well, Montreal's having, an admissible election this week. So by the time this episode airs, we'll know the results. What what comes next in terms of, hopefully expanding this and making it more, permanent part of the urban fabric?
00:43:47:11 - 00:44:15:22
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. This is, Lawrence Levin. Leland. And I'm sorry. And she is a borough mayor. So. Montreal, which, like other cities, has their main mayor, but they also have rural mayors. And she is the mayor in a, in a very, diverse community, a lower income community. But, again, has been part of those champions that are like, how can we build out playgrounds to ensure that this area has a place where children can go and play?
00:44:15:25 - 00:44:40:08
Melissa Bruntlett
Really talked a lot about the role of care and understanding that, especially in their more and the migrant families that are living in Montreal, moms are taking on this care work. And, you know, by creating a cycle lane that gets their kids from home to school, that relieves one burden out of many that she has to that this mom has to take care of, and helps to just, you know, make their lives a little more comfortable.
00:44:40:10 - 00:45:00:03
Melissa Bruntlett
And, you know, again, that idea of understanding the quality of space that makes sure that, you know, children can go play outside without mom having to watch or dad having to watch. They can, you know, help out with doing some of those care trips. If the city is made safer and that's a lot of what Lawrence is really focused on.
00:45:00:05 - 00:45:24:28
Melissa Bruntlett
And is a wonderful young voice, in leadership. And I think that's one thing that we also tried to do when we were picking which cities to highlight and who to speak to is have that, show that this is not just for us middle aged or older ladies, to be in leadership, but there are a lot of young women coming up that are just as capable and passionate and doing a lot of really great work.
00:45:25:00 - 00:45:50:29
John Simmerman
You know, Chris, you just mentioned made reference to the elections coming up and a common theme that I noticed, within the book and is something that you leaned into and really highlighted, was that many of these leaders are not perceive reading over, getting reelected there. They really hone in on getting shit done while they're in power.
00:45:51:01 - 00:46:09:25
John Simmerman
Talk a little bit more about that. Expand upon that, because I think that's a critical factor that, you know, at election time and silly season, you know, it's like it seems like the only thing people are worried about for years leading up to the election date is how am I going to get reelected and stay in power.
00:46:09:27 - 00:46:38:08
Chris Bruntlett
Yeah. No, that really gets to the heart of of the conclusions that we, came to by the end of this process. And one of the kind of leadership qualities that we identified was this willingness to always prioritize impact over power, to be willing and able to make the so-called unpopular decisions at the time that that stir up controversy, stir up backlash, knowing that perhaps likely you have this quiet majority, that's going to support you.
00:46:38:11 - 00:47:08:22
Chris Bruntlett
But at the end of the day, it's not about making decisions based on what you think is going to win you the next election or keep you most popular to maintain the status quo, because that is, of course, a recipe for the status quo. But to really know that you ran to become a position of leader for a reason, hopefully, you've only got four years to, to do something, so you may as well rock the boat a little bit.
00:47:08:24 - 00:47:31:12
Chris Bruntlett
Make the change. And then, you know, when it comes to election time, see how the chips fall. And in the case of Mayor Hidalgo, in the case of mayor plans, in the case of so many of these women, Elke Vandenbrande in Brussels, they were told at the time, you're done, you're pissed off. So many different people, you will not survive the next election.
00:47:31:12 - 00:47:56:12
Chris Bruntlett
And of course, all three of them ended up winning more votes than they did the first time around. Because people again, quietly are in favor of this. But, too often we have, this situation where, elected officials just want to stay there for as long as possible. They enjoy the pomp and the circumstance and the ceremony and that, showing up to the ribbon cuttings and the social gatherings.
00:47:56:14 - 00:48:05:24
Chris Bruntlett
And they're not actually doing it for any of the right reasons. And obviously, that leads to this inertia that we are experiencing in cities around the world.
00:48:05:26 - 00:48:27:15
Melissa Bruntlett
And I think critically with that. And, were we joke maybe sometimes that maybe we shouldn't have interviewed some of these people just in case we were the reason. But in the case of mayor, plant and also with, Marianne Hidalgo, is that they also recognize when time their time is done and not because they're giving up, but just understanding.
00:48:27:21 - 00:48:51:20
Melissa Bruntlett
I've done all I can do. I don't have the energy to carry on to do what needs to get done, and it's time for me to make that space for somebody else to take over. And I think that's for us. That was a really endearing quality as well, because it because that desire to hold on to power can lead to cynicism or lead to staleness and not doing anything, because they're tired and you know, being a leader takes a lot of energy.
00:48:51:20 - 00:49:01:07
Melissa Bruntlett
But those that were able to recognize that it's just as important to move aside. I think it's it's yeah. A nice message that we, we really wanted to emphasize as well.
00:49:01:09 - 00:49:27:03
Chris Bruntlett
And extrapolating that, of course, at the global level, we see so many of the world's problems in 2025 come back to this idea of men holding on to power for as long as possible and, creating all of these ghastly circumstances as a result of that. So, we obviously point to people like Jacinda Ardern, who knew when to get out of the way to make space for new energy and new ideas and, and.
00:49:27:05 - 00:49:52:10
John Simmerman
And also self-care and also self-care, taking care of herself and her family, etc.. I'm lingering on this photo of the trans Eliza there in Paris. This reminds me of the very first time, the I was in Paris, and I specifically went to Paris in September of 2015 to document, Mayor Hill doggos. First, car free day.
00:49:52:10 - 00:50:26:08
John Simmerman
And here's, here's the mayor and, we just referencing the fact that, yes, you know, her, her term will come to an end. Her time in as as the mayor of Paris and make way for for others. And what I loved about the chapter that really focused in on her and her experience and some of the other characters involved, is that, it wasn't enough just to to, like, do what she could while she was there and, and again, come back to this, this powerful photo here.
00:50:26:11 - 00:50:57:21
John Simmerman
I remember a quote that was from 2025, in the lead up to the very first carefree day, there in Paris as part of her term. Is that she says, you know, hey, we've got a problem. If we can't even see the Eiffel Tower through the smog and the pollution. And so she really saw a vision for a different vision for the city that's not, you know, chock full of cars and choking on the car exhaust.
00:50:57:24 - 00:51:26:06
John Simmerman
And then she, you know, followed that up by saying, you know, this is what I'm going to do, a very clear vision of what is for the future. And she won some very difficult elections. And she weathered through the hatred and the vitriol, which was also a common theme of any change to the status quo. But it gets amplified when it happens to be a person in power who happens to be female.
00:51:26:09 - 00:52:05:26
John Simmerman
It gets even more. And Melissa speak to that because you and I have had this conversation, before we're we're dealing in this, this environment that is so male dominated. The book would look completely different and maybe have different stories if we were looking at documenting, you know, impactful women in a career in an area where it's more female oriented, you know, like, for instance, care, but talk a little bit more to that because city design and transportation and all of these things are very male dominated.
00:52:05:29 - 00:52:29:00
Melissa Bruntlett
Yeah. And I mean, we touched on this in, the feminist city chapter and curbing traffic and that, you know, we we all design plan, do our work based on our, our lived experience. And when it comes to transportation and urban planning, for more than a century, it has been male dominated. We've seen it change slowly over time.
00:52:29:03 - 00:53:05:27
Melissa Bruntlett
But I think the stuff that we were using in our presentation now is that 25 of the mayors of the 300 largest cities are women, which is 8%. So it's still we're still not there. We still don't have enough people, representing, you know, everybody. And the thing is that with women, because we are doing this care work because we inherently think of things in a little more of a broader term about what is better for the collective, whether it's our family or our friends, now that it's men are capable of doing that, but that it just seems to be the trend.
00:53:06:00 - 00:53:45:14
Melissa Bruntlett
Then when it comes to city building and transportation planning, it is thinking more about not just that trip to work, but also the trip to the store, the trip to school, all the connections in between how trip chaining is ingrained in doing that work of care that you can just plan for that a little bit better. Because, you know, the impact of when it's not, and so, you know, that's I think a lot of what a lot of this comes down to is, you know, a lot of all of the women that we spoke to all had this personal experience that helped to inform how they approach their work.
00:53:45:17 - 00:54:03:06
Melissa Bruntlett
Understanding as carers, you know, how to make that easier for people or understanding as a young woman as, as in the case with Manila and Keisha Muga, what it was like to not have her parents home because they had to commute two hours each way to get to work, and wanting to make that better for for future families.
00:54:03:06 - 00:54:26:20
Melissa Bruntlett
You know, just those personal experiences from a much more empathetic lens change, you know, the the way you approach things. The unfortunate reality is that when we become more empathetic or we bring that in, it does often require forcing people that haven't thought about, the experiences of others to sort of check their own ego. And not everyone's willing to do that.
00:54:26:20 - 00:54:48:26
Melissa Bruntlett
And that, unfortunately, is what leads to a lot of the vitriol, and the unfair treatment of a lot of women, in terms of personal attacks or. Yeah, we're just unfortunately, as as much as we improve gender equity, women still have to deal with this extra threshold. I think I even joked, I wore the shirt for two presentations in a row and I'm like, I can't do that.
00:54:48:26 - 00:55:07:29
Melissa Bruntlett
And Chris is like, it's not a big deal. It is a big deal. Someone's going to know it. Meanwhile, Chris can sharpen this thing blue blazer, which looks amazing for six presentations in a row and nobody says anything. And those little things over time, you know it. We just we're always aware of the scrutiny and, you know, trying to push through it.
00:55:07:29 - 00:55:23:15
Melissa Bruntlett
And as you said, you know, finding those moments of self-care to make sure that we stay sane and at all, but at the end of the day, that empathy is is the common denominator for a lot of these stories in terms of realizing a more positive impact.
00:55:23:17 - 00:55:28:27
John Simmerman
Yeah. Now, you mentioned, Manila. So I'll let you introduce, who's on screen now.
00:55:28:29 - 00:55:52:14
Melissa Bruntlett
As a Keisha. Keisha is a young, I think she's Gen Z, so she is a young, very young person. But she had it. So her story is that she started out, in communications and journalism. Was on her way to work, kind of like, like just Michael, but, you know, like me, it was just a normal thing to do.
00:55:52:14 - 00:56:22:22
Melissa Bruntlett
It wasn't. I think she thought too much about, But yeah, this conversation she had with a fellow passenger on a bus about missing her son waking up in the morning, she said, there's got to be another way. And this is this story that Chris talks about in terms of just putting a Facebook post out and saying, hey, would anyone else like to join me and trying to maybe get some bike lanes in Manila and and get people safe space to cycle and just kind of I guess Keisha could use the same thing that we do.
00:56:22:22 - 00:56:30:04
Melissa Bruntlett
It's advocacy gone out of control, but but it's a wonderful yeah.
00:56:30:06 - 00:56:38:06
John Simmerman
It's a wonderful story. I don't know if you know my history and story, but I used to live in the Philippines.
00:56:38:08 - 00:56:43:20
Melissa Bruntlett
I saw that in your comment on our post, and I learned such a thing about you. I didn't know before.
00:56:43:23 - 00:57:08:21
John Simmerman
Yeah, there you go. Well, I, I lived, on one of the southern islands. I lived on the island of Mindanao. And so I was attending the university down there, Ateneo de Cagayan. And, but Manila, of course, is the main city. And, and I would visit it on occasion. And it's it was it was crazy. But I actually this was in, 1983.
00:57:08:21 - 00:57:34:10
John Simmerman
And so I was riding my bike there. I purchased a bike when I got into, into, Cagayan de Oro and, that's how I got around to, exploring, looking for surf and and doing fun things and snorkeling and whatever. Yeah, occasionally going to class, too. But, it was insane just how Cod dominated it was.
00:57:34:13 - 00:57:55:22
John Simmerman
It was shocking how paternalistic it was, how male dominated it was. So I was absolutely delighted to see this story as part of the book. Chris, from, the Cycling Embassy, are you guys also helping out in Manila and helping in the Philippines with some of these activities?
00:57:55:25 - 00:58:22:17
Chris Bruntlett
Yeah, this was a project that we were actually, involved in. So it's a nice, sweet spot between, the book and our day jobs and, and also a nice, sweet spot, by the way, between grassroots advocacy and actual government leadership, because, it's one thing for Keisha and her organization to lobby for bike lanes, but there has to be a recognition at the governmental level.
00:58:22:19 - 00:58:58:07
Chris Bruntlett
And this, of course, happened during the pandemic when the government shut down all public transport, on top of existing car traffic. They recognized it was going to be a significant problem, especially for essential workers. So decided to expand this, one pop up bike lane into hundreds of kilometers. And the the Dutch cycling embassy, along with, the world Bank, we were able to work with the Filipino engineers virtually on a series of training sessions implementing the Chrome manual, design principles onto this infrastructure to hopefully make it.
00:58:58:09 - 00:59:25:28
Chris Bruntlett
Yeah, they, they, turning pop up into permanent requires a bit more than just throwing down some, some concrete blocks and, and and some bricks. You actually have to design and build this in a thoughtful way, but it's, Yeah, one of those, really, I think inspiring examples. And of course, Manila is not far from, fixed now and, and remains incredibly car dominated and difficult to get around.
00:59:25:28 - 00:59:43:22
Chris Bruntlett
But I think it just it goes to show that, if your heart is in the right place and, and perhaps circumstances around you align, that you can have a tremendous impact as, even as a humble, advocate, to make change happen on your streets and in your city.
00:59:43:25 - 01:00:02:23
John Simmerman
Yeah. To wrap up, there is is there anything that we haven't discussed yet that you want to make sure to leave the audience with? About the book and the stories that are there? What, what else would you like to add before we, close this out here today?
01:00:02:25 - 01:00:32:14
Chris Bruntlett
Melissa has just written a blog post that I think, is perhaps worth emphasizing because I think now the book has been out for exactly a month, and we find ourselves a little bit perplexed that, the way that it is only being purchased, shared, by women and a lot of the events that we organize now, a lot of the audience, if not most of the audience is female.
01:00:32:15 - 01:00:59:08
Chris Bruntlett
And, we, I think, want to emphasize that this is not a book for women. This is not as a topic or an issue only for women. This is for all of us. This is for men to, and we need to stop thinking of because, a conference session or a book or a blog post has the word gender or women in it, that it's only for, women that are working in this field.
01:00:59:08 - 01:01:05:08
Chris Bruntlett
So, I think that's worth emphasizing. Yeah.
01:01:05:11 - 01:01:29:07
Melissa Bruntlett
Well, I even joked with Chris. So we're at the moment, a lot of our events. Well, we're trying to gear it towards not just presenting our book, but also having a conversation with, women that are in roles of leadership, whether it's advocacy or public and private leadership, having those discussions around why it's important and what we can do to support that, and possibly even some of the work that they are already doing.
01:01:29:09 - 01:01:49:10
Melissa Bruntlett
But I've said to Chris, you know, he automatically will say almost, so you can be on the panel or you can, you can moderate it. And I'm pushing back and saying, maybe you should as well, because it's just as important that, you know, it's important that we give the visibility to women. It's why we've written the book is so that people reading it, especially women, can see, oh, there are people like me that are doing this work.
01:01:49:10 - 01:02:11:22
Melissa Bruntlett
I do belong in this space, and I can keep going at it. But also for it's important for men to recognize that a the qualities we talk about in the book are not uniquely feminine. They can be held by men, and we should celebrate it regardless of the gender of the person who possesses them, but also that men have a role in sharing these stories and pushing this idea further.
01:02:11:22 - 01:02:28:19
Melissa Bruntlett
Just as much as women do. Because at the end of the day, whatever happens at our in our cities, in our countries, you know, wherever we live, it impacts all of us. It doesn't matter that I happen to be a woman or a Chris is a man, and we feel the same impact.
01:02:28:22 - 01:02:54:22
Chris Bruntlett
So it's yeah. Yeah, maybe a little bit frustrating that had we named this book Changing Cities Global Stories of Urban Transformation and let the word winning us, it would have got a completely different reception and made of maybe have gotten a broader audience. Because at the end of the day, it's about, well, shouldn't we all be a bit more like Paris, a bit more like Barcelona, a bit more like Brussels?
01:02:54:25 - 01:03:41:19
Chris Bruntlett
Can we not learn from their transformations? The fact that women have led these transformations, of course, is is worth celebrating. And and we need to give these women visibility. But this should not make it only an issue for women by women. And so, yeah, we're not quite sure. Well, I know regrets. Certainly. So don't get me wrong, but but I think, men that are listening to this podcast and, considering, buying this book or attending an event about gender, please do, because as Melissa said, this impacts you, you have a right and a responsibility to, to get involved in this and, and, roll up your sleeves and, and
01:03:41:19 - 01:03:48:27
Chris Bruntlett
and work on it as well, so that it's not just, women working on the tent at the topic of.
01:03:48:29 - 01:03:49:19
Melissa Bruntlett
Women.
01:03:49:21 - 01:03:52:19
Chris Bruntlett
That women.
01:03:52:21 - 01:04:24:02
John Simmerman
Well, in all of, you know, page over to the conclusion, the final thing that you leave off with, which are really the five themes leading with empathy, long term planning with, intersectional approach, valuing the role and ethics of care impact not power, and realizing potential instead of solving problems that applies across the board. That's not something that's uniquely gendered at all.
01:04:24:04 - 01:04:47:09
John Simmerman
But is something that I think that, you know, we all can learn from these wonderful stories. You bring up a really good point there. You know, Chris had this not included the, the, the the word women changing cities on the front just changing cities. Global stories of urban transformation change. Nothing else about the book, just that one word.
01:04:47:12 - 01:05:24:29
John Simmerman
Who knows? And I think that's the weird thing about the era that we're in right now, especially here in the United States. But globally too, is just the oversensitivity of of all things of equity and inclusion. It's it's just a really, really weird period of time. A moment in history. But I also realize that it's probably human nature to just like when we try to change the status quo of the built environment of the streets, we get these pendulum swings of extremes that happen.
01:05:24:29 - 01:05:49:23
John Simmerman
So hopefully we will weather through this and this book will hopefully help people understand the nuance a little bit better about what it is we're talking about. I think it's beautiful, folks, you should pick up your copy. It's absolutely delightful. Get your hands on it, because it's also beautiful. Chris and Melissa, thank you so very much for joining me once again on the Active Towns podcast.
01:05:49:25 - 01:05:51:15
Melissa Bruntlett
It's always a pleasure.
01:05:51:17 - 01:06:05:10
Chris Bruntlett
It's almost like Saturday Night Live, right? With the hosts. Get a special jacket when they've hosted five times. I don't know how many episodes we've been on, but it's it's got to be approaching double figures now. So we we've got to come up with some way to commemorate that.
01:06:05:15 - 01:06:06:27
Melissa Bruntlett
Where's my jacket?
01:06:06:29 - 01:06:29:28
John Simmerman
Yeah, yeah. And Melissa, we are due for, a solo interview with you talking about your experience. So we'll we'll cue that up after you hit your one year anniversary of your your new firm and we'll, we'll talk some stories and get dive a little bit deeper into your, experience there with Model City Creative. Again, thank you both so very much.
01:06:29:28 - 01:06:36:01
John Simmerman
And, aloha. Next time we'll be chatting. I'll be living back in the Hawaiian Islands.
01:06:36:03 - 01:06:41:06
Melissa Bruntlett
Good luck with all and with everything, with the move and and the change and enjoy it.
01:06:41:08 - 01:06:44:24
Chris Bruntlett
And we'll do our best to come for a visit and soak up some sunshine.
01:06:44:26 - 01:06:56:26
John Simmerman
Oh, yeah. We definitely. We definitely need, some of the bright lit action, there in the Hawaiian Islands. Again, thank you so very much. Enjoy your Halloween evening.
01:06:56:29 - 01:06:58:25
Melissa Bruntlett
Thank you.
01:06:58:27 - 01:07:15:19
John Simmerman
Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Melissa and Chris Brant. And if you did, please give it a thumbs up. Leave a comment down below and be sure to share it with a friend. And if you haven't done so already, be honored to have you subscribed to the channel. Just click on that subscription button down below and ring that notification bell.
01:07:15:26 - 01:07:39:21
John Simmerman
And if you're enjoying this content on the Active Towns channel, again, please consider supporting my efforts by becoming an Active Towns Ambassador. Super easy to do. Just click on that join button right here in YouTube down below, or navigate over to Active Town Storage and click on that support tab at the top of the page. There's several different options, including buy Me a Coffee, making donations to the nonprofit, and again, becoming a Patreon supporter.
01:07:39:21 - 01:08:00:10
John Simmerman
Patrons do get early and ad free access to all this video content. Again, thank you so much for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. And until next time, this John signing off by wishing you much activity, health and happiness. Cheers. And again, just want to send a huge thank you to all my active towns investors supporting the channel financially via YouTube memberships YouTube super.
01:08:00:10 - 01:08:09:25
John Simmerman
Thanks. As well as making contributions to the nonprofit and joining my Patreon. Every little bit adds up is very much appreciated. Thank you all so much.